Some Disappointing Peanut Allergy News...

Sarah had an appointment with the allergist was on Christmas Eve.  After talking for a while with the physician, she (the allergist) had a skin test performed on Sarah to check her reaction to peanuts as well as environmental allergens (to determine if they were contributing to her eczema).

Verdict - Peanut allergy confirmed!  Boo!

The test consisted of placing little droplets of each allergen on her back and then waited 15 minutes to "read" the results.  A positive result is a welt that forms where the droplet was applied.  She welted to two items - one was the control (that is always supposed to test positive) and the other welt was peanut.

After the results the allergist came back in and chatted with me about what this meant.

1. Sarah's welt was 12mm in diameter. She recommended that we have the skin test repeated every 1-2 years.  If/when the welt decreases to about 4-5 mm in size, then we might consider testing her by introduction (which I believe is a in-hospital food challenge test, administered by an allergist). 
2. Kids with peanut allergies have a 10-20% chance of outgrowing the allergy.
3. The peanut blood test (to which Sarah tested negative) has an 85% npv (negative predictive value), which means that a negative result is correct about 85% of the time.  We were in the unlucky 15%.
4. All desensitization studies are in clinical trials right now.  Desensitization is "a long-term form of allergy treatment involving gradual exposure to small doses of allergens over a period of several years."  (Source)  This treatment is supposed to gradually increase the body's tolerance of the allergen.  Sarah is currently too young for the trials and right now Brian's not interested in her participating in them anyway.  
5. Early vs. late exposure.  Sarah obviously had early exposure to peanuts.  Our allergist said the jury is currently out (based on the studies) as to whether delayed introduction of highly-allergenic foods is beneficial or detrimental.  Her personal opinion is that early introduction is better.  That was nice to hear.

So although I had convinced myself that the absence of any allergic reactions following her initial one meant that Sarah didn't really have an allergy (that the one reaction was a fluke), its not the case.  I know that she has had some accidental exposure to items with various peanut warnings, so I guess we just were fortunate that none of those cause her to have a reaction.  I do feel relieve now to know exactly what the scope of her allergies consist of and I'm thankful that she doesn't have to be on a completely nut-free diet.  So we will just wait and pray and maybe as Sarah grows older we'll get some better news on the peanut allergy front.  Until then I'll continue packing the epi-pen wherever we go!

On another note, Brian's in the first week of three in the ICU.  It's basically terrible.  He does not like the work in the ICU.  But worse, he has super-long hours - leaving before the kids are awake and coming home well after they've gone to bed, though thankfully he was off for Christmas!  Next week he works a "swing" shift, where he works from 11am to 11pm, which is nice for him to be home in the mornings.  But then the last week of this rotation he'll be working the regular shift 6 days straight.  That's 6 days in a row that the kids won't see him and that I'm totally on my own with the kids.  So please say a prayer for us all as we go through these next few weeks.  Thanks!